Cape May was not all about shorebirds and horseshoe crabs. There is quite a variety of habitats on this little peninsula, making the spring migration a veritable paradise for birders. During our four days in Cape May we saw or heard 120 different species of birds.
We stopped at several places to look for warblers and other migrants. Several gave us photo ops!
For me, my favorite bird of this trip was the Prairie Warbler. We had several very good looks at this bird, probably because it’s not just passing through. It actually nests in this area. Here is a nice pic:
Here are a few of the birds who cooperated for pictures:
Blackburnian Warbler:
Summer Tanager:
Eastern Kingbird:
A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in its beautiful, camouflaged nest:
And the winner of the Most Cooperative Bird Award was the Great-crested Flycatcher. We saw and heard it a lot! Here are several pics:
We also saw or heard a number of birds, including Indigo Bunting, in the open grassy fields.
Your basic Field Sparrow:
And a beautiful Blue Grosbeak in its full breeding plumage:
This is but a small fraction of what we saw or heard. Cape May is not the easiest place to get to, but I’d say it’s definitely worth the trip, especially in the spring during migration. I understand that the fall migration, especially hawk/raptor watching is also spectacular here. We might just have to make a fall trip here one of these years! 🙂
Well you certainly look like you had the time of your lives. Good for you. Those birds are mostly unfamiliar to me as we don’t have many of them here. Not that I’ve ever seen.
Have a terrific day. Big hug to you and Princess Gail. 🙂
I bet they are unfamiliar birds to you, just like your western birds would be unfamiliar to us. We’re thinking about a fall trip to Texas to catch the western birds migrating south. That would be our first real effort to observe the birds that live west of the Rockies.
Have a great day, Sandee, and say hi to Zane!
These are such great photos!
Thanks, K! We had beautiful subjects! 🙂